1 month ago

I would recommend adding in several more mana rocks and a few more lands as well. There are also lots of cards in the deck that pretty much don't help you and can be cut. I will list some below:

Serra's Blessing - vigilance to all your guys doesn't really do much in general, especially when they come in tapped with Kaalia. Something like Dragon Tempest that gives Kaalia haste would be a much more useful enchantment.

Dread Cacodemon - it doesn't usually do anything other than be a vanilla 8/8, which isn't really what you are looking for in a Kaalia deck. You want your creatures to provide utility, be hard to get rid of, or be so destructive that your opponents are forced to get rid of them or lose. This could technically be hardcast I guess, but those occasions will be extremely rare. It doesn't destroy stuff when Kaalia cheats it out. This block applies to Reiver Demon as well.

Firemane Avenger - Battalion is a little harder to do than you might think, and it has the problem of being a "when this attacks" Trigger, which doesn't happen when it comes down with Kaalia. The trigger not happening, by the way, can very easily be abused to great effect. See Rakdos the Defiler and Master of Cruelties (the latter of which, if unblocked and brought in with Kaalia, will immediately drop your opponent's life to 1, at which point Kaalia will deal two and kill them). I would cut Mana-Charged Dragon for similar reasons.

You could definitely be a lot more liberal with cuts than I have suggested here, but these are the edits that jumped out at me most. Check out my Kaalia deck Dies Irae for more inspiration! I'm very happy with the creatures I've narrowed that deck down to, so feel free to look through those for replacements for cards you have found not especially useful.

Finally, being mardu, you could consider a Sunforger package. Always a fun time.

I could go on quite a bit more about Kaalia things, but I am out of time. Check out my deck or ask questions if you want more help!

1 month ago

Gisela's cmc is a little steep. However I never really thought of Firemane Avenger like that. I just always focused on how difficult it was to trigger the ability, but I suppose in non-powered cubes not everything needs to be broken. I'll give the Avenger a shot.

2 months ago

Here's some comments about the deck.

The charm of this Boros is that it is a mid speed aggro, with versatility. It is quite fast, hits pretty hard, and the opponent is many times quite surprised by the sudden onslaught. 2 creatures is what you want, then you will drop your haste creature, and BAM, Battalion triggers.To get the trigger on Firemane Avenger (who's is a 3/3 flier who spams Lightning Helix), is a force to be reckoned with.

This brings us to the other side of the deck, Boros Reckoner; the best Boros card ever printed (maybe besides Boros Charm ) is an excellent blocker here, who everyone is afraid of. Not only can it kill 1-2 power creatures, it also redirects the damage it gets, and possibly kills another creature or deals some small damage to the player as a finisher. Your opponents are very afraid to attack with their big beasties if they don't have trample, as if you block them, it means a massive damage to them as well.

Furthermore, you have a backup plan. If you see yourself being overpowered, play defensively, and get a Boros Reckoner with a Blasphemous Act in hand. Once you have Boros Reckoner in the play and there are around 5 creatures altogether on the battlefield, you can cast Blasphemous Act usually for 4-3 mana for 13 damage to all creatures. This will wipe you out as well, but: you destroy their army, and due to Boros Reckoner's ability, you can deal 13 damage to the player... that is what I call value.

This is usually enough to finish the game, it is hard not to get to such a state and not have nibbed down 7 damage from the opponent.

Overall a very fun deck, which is easy to pilot, straightforward to play and really good against slower decks. The strength of the deck is in versatility, good speed, and some nice combo with BR and BA.

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